Originally Posted by Dam8610
Neither Houston nor Ngakoue has to play 9 tech to be successful, nor would Ojulari. Fortunately for us, Ron Meeks isn't still here, otherwise they might try. I'll admit Ojulari is more of a long term play than a short term quick fix to the pass rush problem. I think drafting Ojulari would almost certainly be accompanied by resigning Houston, which would allow the Colts to bring him along slowly and allow Ojulari to learn from two pass rushers he likely has a great deal of respect for that also share his size and speed profile in Houston and Robert Mathis.
Regarding Phillips, I know you respect Brett Kollman's opinion, so do I. Kollman released a video calling Phillips "a terrifying combination of the Watt brothers" last month. While I'm not as high on him as Brett is, if you watch that video, or really any tape of Phillips in 2020, you'll see a technically sound DE with length and athleticism that uses all those traits to effectively generate pressure and disrupt the opposing offense. That was exactly what I saw out of TJ Watt in 2016 when I wanted the Colts to either trade down and pick him or see him slide to their pick in Round 2 of the 2017 draft. Regarding Phillips's injury history, it's a valid concern, there's no two ways about that, and ultimately drafting Phillips would be contingent on getting clearance from the medical staff that they believe his injury history won't have a significant impact on his long term viability as an NFL player. But my understanding is Phillips's injury history is somewhat fluky in nature, he's just had very bad luck, like the moped accident you mentioned, but I wouldn't question his passion for the game based on UCLA's stupid rule that 3 concussions (and it was 3, not 4) is an automatic forced medical retirement from football at UCLA. In fact, I would argue his coming back from that and transferring elsewhere to finish his collegiate career proves a great passion for football, as he had the perfect out to get away from the game if he wanted to in UCLA's rule. Instead, he sought out a transfer, found a team he was able to make an impact with, and went out and had a pretty solid, productive season that was also injury free. It has to go through the medical team, but Phillips could be another guy like Watt and Sweat that we'll be wishing Ballard had pulled the trigger on several years later if he doesn't. As for a comp for Phillips, I already gave my reasoning on TJ Watt, but Phillips and Chase Young were neck and neck for top DE in the country when they came out of high school. That's mostly tongue in cheek, of course.
I fully understand this team has a long term need for a #1 shutdown corner type, but I also recognize that need as more long term the way the roster stands at present. CB is also a position that Ballard has had a lot of success at finding a lot of value on Day 3 and in UDFA, where DE/EDGE has been less successful in those regards. I'm not saying it's impossible the Colts would draft a CB at 21 or 54, but to me, doing that leaves you with a major glaring hole at LT or EDGE going into 2021 that you can try to fill with a developmental guy, but that may not work. If a CB is not drafted at 21 or 54, the Colts go into 2021 with Xavier Rhodes, Kenny Moore, Rock Ya-Sin, TJ Carrie, Isaiah Rodgers (who looked good down the stretch), and Marvell Tell III. That's a solid depth chart already, and while it would likely be intelligent to supplement it with a Day 2 pick in 2022 since Rhodes and Carrie aren't getting any younger, it's a fine group to get through the 2021 season with IMO.
I think there are a lot of players with a lot of potential to develop into quality pass rushers on Day 2 and beyond. A small list, in no particular order, that I think could find success as a pure edge or in the Denico Autry role for the Colts and could be available on Day 2:
Gregory Rousseau
Jayson Oweh
Ronnie Perkins
Payton Turner
Joseph Ossai
Joe Tryon
Cameron Sample
Dayo Odeyingbo
Rashad Weaver
Tarron Jackson
Osa Odighizuwa
Milton Williams
Jaylen Twyman
Elerson Smith
Quincy Roche
William Bradley-King
Knowing Ballard's tendency to greatly value Senior Bowl performance, keep your eye on Elerson Smith, Tarron Jackson, and Cameron Sample from that group, as all 3 had excellent practice weeks at the Senior Bowl, most of all Elerson Smith, who seemed to beat everyone there in the same way Quinn Meinerz did, he just didn't get as much attention for it.
I'm not saying you're wrong because of this, but your ranking is the most consensus ranking of the QB position (6 is Mond, typically, by the way). That suggests to me that you're doing less watching of the film and more listening to the pundits who all seem to have this tendency to want to align with one another rather than have their own opinions. There should be a larger variance in prospect rankings than what exists in the general draft "expert" community, because not everyone is going to value the same traits at each position. I know that the traits I value at the QB position are the result of seeing what went right with my good evaluations over the years and what went wrong with my bad ones, and they tend to differ vastly from a lot of the scouting community. An easy example of this is that I value athleticism from the QB position much less than the average NFL scout or draft pundit, and I value anticipation throws much more. That's because, as I explained before, athleticism can land a QB on IR and/or cut his career short, and good pocket mobility is often a sufficient substitute at the QB position for athleticism, and one that will keep your QB around longer. Anticipation throws, meanwhile, are a good barometer of how much preparation work a QB is putting in, how well that QB understands the concepts of his offense and how quickly he can pick them up, and how well that QB can read a defense in real time, as well as pick up subtle nuances on certain players that will give him situational advantages in games. I'd say out of the scouting community that exists right now, the people who I most closely align with on evaluating QBs are Kyle Shanahan and Chris Simms. That's why I fully believe Mac Jones will be the pick at 3 and that the talk happening there isn't a smokescreen in the slightest.
Also, your comment on Mac Jones there doesn't make much sense to me. Of course situation is important for Mac Jones, situation is important for every player. Patrick Mahomes wouldn't be Patrick Mahomes had the Dolphins drafted him. Nate Solder would've likely been the colossal bust I thought he was destined to be had Dante Scarnecchia not gotten hold of him. Joey Galloway and Joe Horn were highly talented receivers who were never quite as good as Marvin Harrison in part because neither Galloway nor Horn ever had elite QB play, whereas Marvin had the greatest QB to ever play throwing him the ball for all but one season of his career. I could name hundreds and thousands more examples like this, but I think the point is made.
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